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I work with large PDFs a lot in Windows and don't always like opening the big, bloated Adobe Reader. However it has certain features that sometimes I need.

Most of the time I use the following to open it in an alternate PDF reader:

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Is it possible to map the Ctrl+Enter key (or any other key combination), so that, when highlighting a PDF, it opens it in Sumatra?

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  • not an answer to your question but a suggestion: have a look at PDF-Xchange Viewer. dead fast with a very attractive set of features. try the portable version and see what it has to offer (if you don't want to install a 3rd PDF reader right now although chances are that you will happily ditch the other two :) docu-track.com/?product/pdfx_viewer
    – Molly7244
    Nov 21, 2009 at 23:42
  • @Molly thanks for the comment. I've tried it. What I was looking for was a very, very uncluttered, super fast way of viewing PDFs before I "open" them in Adobe. Kind of like how pressing Spacebar on a Mac opens the PDF in Preview Nov 22, 2009 at 21:58

7 Answers 7

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Probably! Autohotkey can automate keyboard and mouse functions, but not knowing enough about your setup I'll simply have to say have fun :)

It's a simple language, and has a bundled window spy to give you button co-ordinates and stuff, and you could easily enough automate the clicking.

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  • Do you have any example code to set me off? I use AutoHotKey but I don't think I have the know-how to do something like this... Dec 1, 2009 at 20:06
  • AHK is a really simple language. Just going off your image, you could use the click function to open in the second program by clicking on the menu item, then on the program.
    – Phoshi
    Dec 1, 2009 at 21:02
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You could try using the Windows Explorer preview pane, which will load the document in Adobe's viewer on the right side.

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  • i know of this feature. the problem is that there's no way to make it full-screen or do a Ctrl+F search, and it's painfully slow to get going. I might as well fire up Adobe Reader in the time it takes to load Nov 24, 2009 at 12:11
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You can do this by using XYplorer instead of the Windows Explorer. Here's documentation on XYplorer's User Defined Commands (UDCs) showing how it is done. It's easy to set up: I just tried it (first time I've ever used the UDC feature) and it works.

EDIT: That link only provides an example; here's how to get the complete XYPlorer help file.

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No you can't map Ctrl+Enter to alternate functions, sadly. Make your default viewer the one you use most often, and use the alt open method for Adobe (The context-menu button with mnemonics also work well for keyboard access).

Also try Foxit, it's small and fast, the free edition doesn't have advanced editing features, but for a viewer it's great.

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When you right click there's an option "Open With..." on the context menu.

Use this to select your alternate program.

Then next time you right click the alternate program should appear in the menu underneath Open which will invoke the default program.

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If you use Sumatra more frequently than Adobe, you could go the opposite route :

Make Sumatra the default reader for PDF, so it can be started by Enter.
Adobe can then be started by using the right-click Open menu.

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  • The problem with this is that i lose the auto-generated thumbnails, which rely on Adobe being the default Dec 1, 2009 at 20:05
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Have a look at C.A.F.E/Coffee - you can use ALT + double click to open in a secondary program.

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